DerAuslander108, in re: to "all North Korean defectors were taken to South Korea, where they are kept under tight government control, and often face discrimination".
Why? Does the SK govt/military think they are double/sleeper agents or is there some other reason.

Bush, in a rare display of awesome-ness, whips out a chrome-steel .357 and personally domes the Ronry One, while Cheney shot-guns his family.

LOL awesome image! OK, but seriously, yes, that would mean our public image and international relations would turn to crap. Then (I'm confident) all the nations would see us as tyrants of the world, and rightfully so, which of course would mean big problems for us.

My current stance on on these kind of situations is that, what is needed is to increase dialogue between them and other nations and to also work to remove their isolation from the world through various means of influence and exposure. The situation, I think, is fostered by the fact that most of their people have no communication outside of their world and that education is hard to get. Essentially, the ignorance of the populace is what keeps their regime alive. Educate the people and it becomes harder when the people as a whole start to realize that they want something different.

Also, and this is a hard thing to overcome, culture can be a huge factor. And what I mean by culture is in terms of the local culture and not the area as a whole or historically. People can become very nationalistic and engrained in the thought that challenging the government will never work and only bring more problems. Things like that are hard to overcome.

Why? Does the SK govt/military think they are double/sleeper agents or is there some other reason.

No. The SK government does not want them talking about how bad things are in the North.

The SK government fears a re-unification situation like the one in Germany, since it may harm their economy.

It is the ultimate irony that the ruling party in South Korea is one of the biggest opponents of North Korean human rights. Though the opposition party right now has been making very controversial statements in support of the human rights cause.